All metal leave N place armor joint form with joint fill retention

ABSTRACT

The objective of this invention is to provide ease of application for steel armored joints used in industrial concrete floor construction. It provides one step simple and precise installation. Provides a substrate for joint filler compression. Eliminates the need for wood forms and field welding that produces waste. 
     Elevation adjustment and the ease thereof are achieved by vertical slots cut in the upright. The neoprene bolts are to be tightened when the steel is at the desired elevation. Two part armored joints separate as the concrete contracts during the curing process. Then the joint filler product is applied and retained in a permanent encased condition.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO ALL RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not Applicable

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable.

NAMES OF PARTIES TO ADJOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT

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REFERENCE TO SEQUENCE LISTING, A TABLE, OR COMPUTER PROGRAM LISTINGCOMPACT DISC APPENDIX

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BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

Due to the required labor and material required to form and place anarmored joint with wooden forms in a concrete floor this inventioneliminates these steps by providing a one step set and alignment of thearmor joint. The form is left in place and requires no additional laborto remove conventional wooden forming materials.

The joint area is constantly exposed to fork lift traffic and continuousvibration of said traffic results in the joint filler compound beingcompromised and a settling effect takes place resulting with the jointfill dropping and leaving an exposed “gap” between the armor joints.

This invention provides a “slot” and “backstop” to capture the jointfill by filling the slot provided by the Leave N Place metal form work.

The result is less affect on the fork lift and driver and lessmaintenance on equipment.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF INVENTION

This invention eliminates wooden forming labor and material that isrequired for the installation of conventional steel armor joints.

This invention is a one step, set in place and leave in place product.The armor joint is fully adjustable to compensate for undulations in thesubstrate or if used on an insulated freezer floor. The base anduprights provide a “seat” for the joint filler that will be appliedafter the floors have cured and contracts and the armor joint separateswith the concrete as it moves horizontally, thus providing a permanentbase for the joint filler, therefore reducing the need to reapply thejoint filler. No part of the form system requires removal or alteredafter the adjustment.

The dowels are placed in the provided pre drilled holes in the uprightsand are left in place during the concrete placement, there is no need toremove and reset the dowels for the adjoining slab placement as there isno need to remove any wooden form work.

The Leave N Place form provides the option of a continuous pourapplication, while finishing one slab the adjacent or adjoining slab canstart placement.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

Particular embodiments of the invention will now be described withreference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 shows a side view of the steel armor joint piece 3 which is afabricated component that includes ½″ headed studs piece 7, pre-drilledholes marked 12, rod couplings piece 9, and leveling bolts piece 10.

FIG. 2 shows an end view section of piece 3 FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 depicts a side view of the upright piece 2 which will be attachedto piece 1 base metal as depicted in FIG. 5. There will be (2) twopieces 2 required for a complete assembly.

FIG. 4 shows a front view of piece 2. This view displays the slottedholes piece 13 that will be used to attach pieces 3. This view alsoshows the pre-drilled holes piece 14 to accommodate the dowels.

FIG. 5 shows the fully assembled components in a ready for usecondition.

FIG. 6 depicts the Leave N Place form in the condition as it would beafter the concrete has been placed and cured. This condition reflectsthe joint with the joint filler compound, piece 15, placed after thecontraction of the concrete floor slab.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to the drawing FIG. 5 this designates the metal base piece 1to which will provide a support base for stabilization and to which thepiece 2 as depicted in FIG. 3 shall be attached. This is accomplished byuse of piece 8, a self tapping, self drilling screw, or rivet. Pieces 3are then attached to piece 2 using neoprene bolts, nuts and washers,pieces 4, 5, 6, as depicted on FIG. 5, by inserting 4 thru the holes 12in the pieces 7 and holes 13 in piece 2 as depicted FIG. 2 and FIG. 4.The neoprene bolts are designed to comprise during the concrete curingprocess and allow the armor joints to separate as the concrete floorcures. Pieces 5 and 6 are then used to secure pieces 7 to piece 2.

Pieces 3 is a fabricated assembly by attaching a stub, piece 7 at 30degrees as depicted on FIG. 1. by welding. Piece 9 is a threadedcoupling which is also attached by welding. Piece 10 is a threaded boltwhich is threaded thru piece 8 and provides an adjustment mechanism forheight adjustment of pieces 7. By turning piece 10 either in the up ordown direction height adjustment is achieved to provide an even andlevel plane of top edges of piece 7.

The invention is assembled and set in place as one assembly. Theadjustment of the height of the top plane of pieces 7 is achieved bysetting these components to required elevation by way of a previouslyset benchmark elevation for the finished floor slab, then the adjustmentbolts can be used to achieve the exact elevation required. Whenconditions required more than one section of form the forms are set andsecured together by an overlapping condition at the end of each linearsection and bolted together with neoprene bolts designed to compromiseduring contraction of the concrete. All elevations are checked andadjusted as required to provide a level and straight armor jointcondition.

The form can either be secured by sand bag, staking or by a smallportion of concrete once all alignments are achieved.

1-11. (canceled)
 12. The All Metal Leave N Place Armor Joint Form withJoint Fill Retention is utilized in the placement of concrete slabs andis a one step, set in place and leave in place armored joint form. Theform provides a seating system which thereby captures the joint fillmaterial. The form consists of a sheet metal base with two independentupright pieces attached to the base sheet metal. The uprights and baseare attached together to form an inverted “T” Shape. The T Shaped sheetmetal is fabricated to house the steel armored joint components. Thearmor joint steel is attached to the sheet metal form by means ofneoprene bolts. The neoprene bolts are designed to compromise during thecuring phase of the placement of the concrete slab. The act ofcompromising of said neoprene bolts allows for the separation of thesteel armor joints due to the shrinkage factor of concrete. Onceseparation of the armor joint occurs, then the joint fill medium can beapplied to fill the void created by the separation of the armor jointsteel. Furthermore, the form includes a vertical adjustability of thesteel armor joint that is independent of the sheet metal base andupright. This provides compensation for elevation inconsistencies in thesub-grade and/or insulated floor materials.
 13. The armored joint formaccording to claim 12, consist of a sheet metal base attached to twosheet metal upright components of which the steel armor joints areattached. The fabricated steel armor joints are fitted with headedstuds, to provide for anchoring in the concrete slab. The armor jointcomponents and sheet metal upright will separate during the concretecuring process and therefore expose the metal strip which is attached toone side of the bottom portion of the steel armor joint. This separationwill provide the seat (metal strip) to capture and retain the joint fillmedium.
 14. According to claim 12, the armored joint steel is fittedwith threaded nuts and threaded studs (jack bolts) which provides themechanism enabling the vertical adjustability feature. The jack boltsalso provide horizontal stability to the armor joint steel during theplacement of the concrete slabs.